Cities weigh new form of government

Camas, Washougal committees consider switching from ‘strong mayor’ form to council-manager

By Dawn Feldhaus

March 29, 2018 5:30 am

News

Alex Yost (left) and Blaine Peterson (right) attend the March 23 meeting of the Washougal Citizens Advisory Committee, at Washougal City Hall. The committee is determining whether this is the right time to recommend the city change from a mayor-council to a council-manager form of government. A Camas committee is examining the same issue. The committees' recommendations will go to their respective city councils, and potentially to voters to decide.

Two committees in Camas and Washougal are looking at the possibility of converting the cities’ current mayor-council form of government to the more widely used council-manager system.

Camas was the first to form a committee, after City Councilman Greg Anderson asked other council members if they were interested in exploring the topic and they viewed a presentation from the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC). The Camas committee includes former Camas mayors Nan Henriksen and Paul Dennis, as well as former city administrator Lloyd Halverson, Camas School Board member and former Camas Public Works Director Doug Quinn, Vice President of Business Development for MacKay Sposito and partner at PointNorth Consulting, Inc. Lisa Schauer and Washington State University-Vancouver Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Lynn Valenter.

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